Having never read any of the comics, I was kinda nervous about not understanding the plot, but thankfully the plot is somewhat overused and anyone whose ever played Return to Castle Wolfenstein will be familar with the story...

Not a bad movie, though! I didn't like the tentacled squid-dog-looking bastards, I thought they were lame... but I thought the (overused) Super Nazi storyline was pretty cool. I'd definately suggest you comic/sci-fi fans go see it.

I'm going to let the other mods review this in our Top Secret Hidden Forum of Doom due to the mild content. While I agree Philip Wise sucks - we'd like to keep the RS bashing to a minimum. You also may or may not be asked to change your user-name. I'm leaving it all up to the other guys.

They may decide I've over reacted by moving your thread - but I'm just doing a quick judgement call.

ANNNNDDDDD.... Welcome to JediDefender - we're pleased to have you join us - despite my removing your first post.

So who remembers the good ol' Action Force Comics? Since as far back as I can remember I was GI Joe fan, so naturally I loved BAF comics... I thought (and still think) the storyline and illustrations were just top notch. Of course, I was only a few years old at the time, considering BAF started up in '83 and I was born in '84... Anywho, I started this up just to see who else was a huge fan -

The first issue of Battle Action Force featues the unmasked Baron - who eventually becomes Cobra Commander

- and also because I was wondering if anyone knows if Battle Action Force has been reproduced into a TPB? If so, I need to add that to my wishlist... If not, why the hell not?!

This chance photograph appears to capture teenager Chris Van Namen having a rather too close encounter with a large shark as he wakeboards on Lake Macquarie.

The picture, taken by his mother Martina Van Namen, as he rose from the water to stand on his wakeboard, appears to show a shark's menacing fin slicing through the water behind him.

In fact, Mr Van Namen is now convinced the shark was headed straight for him as he was being dragged through the water behind the boat, and he was only saved because he stood up just at the right moment.

Fortunately for Mr Van Namen, 18, at the time he was blissfully unaware of his brush with what is probably a large bull shark.

The photograph was not developed until a couple of weeks after the family outing on Lake Macquarie in late February.

"I was shocked when I saw the photograph," Mr Van Namen said.

The startling picture was taken within days of another photograph appearing in The Daily Telegraph of a shark swimming in Lake Macquarie.

The pictures were taken a few months apart in different locations of the lake, one of Australia's favourite recreational waterways.

As the number of sightings of the shark grows, Newcastle's former shark mesher Paul Grunsell said it was only a matter of time before someone was attacked.

"From the pictures, it looks like a seven or eight-foot (2.13m or 2.43m) shark," Mr Grunsell said.

"I'm hoping to put a proposal to Lake Macquarie City Council to net part of the lake and try and catch it."

Me being deathly afraid of sharks, this is like the scariest thing in the world... Just imagine seeing your kid almost attacked by a shark...

Apparently the newest GTA chapter is in developement! It'll be released around October of 2004. Rumor is that this will be a modern San Fransico, perhaps with focus on the Diablo's (note that the San Andreas is similar to the Diablo tattoo.

I figured since everyone is getting so in-depth and high-tech with their reviews, it's about time I start catching up. And in order to do that I'm bolding the categories and adding a high quality photo of the figure in each review. I'm so cool.

AppearanceIt looks pretty damn good! The face is a little off, but this is easily the best Luke I've seen so far. If I had the time/money to do any Luke customs, this is the face I'd choose.9/10

Pose-abilityThere's quite a bit you can do here, I'm very pleased.9/10

AccessoryA little base, lightsaber, and pistol. They could have given us a plain hilt so our Luke could wear it, but oh well. No complaints.9/10

OverallOne of the best figures Hasbro's made (do note that this is the latest figure I've gotten, I'm still awaiting the next wave). Bottom line, if you haven't got Luke, then get him! Ask around in the classifieds, if you have to - just pick him up. 9/10

Even though I'm pretty booked as far as my time for doing art goes, I've decided now is a good time to do a nice piece that's been swirling around in my head for years. I'll title it 'Pathway of Everlasting Peace' or something like that, from an event that occured in Tianamen Square in June of 1989.

I'm sure all of you older guys remember this very clearly, I was only a 5 or so when it happened, but seeing this broadcast really changed my life.

To the point - I really need a high resolution photo of this. A magazine scan or something - anything that I can use for a decent projection. I cannot freehand the details of a tank like I can people's faces.

I haven't drawn any Star Wars in a while, but here's two Reservoir Dogs pieces.

The first piece is Mr. White blazing away. Drawn in a single afternoon with a white prisma color pencil on dark green (shows as black on scan) matte board. Pretty rough looking on the scan because the matte is heavy with lots of texture. I definately suggest you artists try experimenting with the prisma on matte board stuff. It's fun.

Second piece is was a bit cut-off because of the size of the paper is larger than my scanner. It took about a month to complete, mainly because it's merely an 'on the side' thing I did to practice shading and my Commercial Arts classes and two commissions are overloading me with other pieces.

(From left to right, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink, Mr. White, and Mr. Orange. An interesting note is that because I'm left handed, I started on the right side and gradually made my way left... I think you can actually see the progress I'm making as far as drawing/shading goes with each face. Or at least I hope you can see progress.)

In the VIP box during the Pod Races, you can see a Twi'lek beside Jabba. Is that Bib Fortuna? His face looks different and he appears to be many many years older than Bib. Jabba doesn't look anything like ANH (SE) Jabba, and neither one of them look like the ROTJ Jabba.